McIlroy set for year's first big showdown at the Genesis

New World No. 1 Rory McIlroy heads this week’s 2020 Genesis Invitational, the first big showdown of the New Year and a new decade.

It’s been well over four years, September 2015 to be precise, when McIlroy last ruled atop of the rankings.

His combined 95 career weeks at No. 1 ranks fourth all-time, just two weeks shy of Nick Faldo’s 97 weeks and once the Northern Irishman surpasses Faldo, he’s got a very long way to go if he gets anywhere near Aussie Greg Norman (331 weeks) and Tiger Woods (683 weeks).

With McIlroy again atop of the rankings, he will now lead also one of the strongest fields in world golf at this week’s staging of the Genesis Invitational, a tournament boasting nine of the world’s top-10 with only Webb Simpson (No. 7) electing to not tee-up at the famed Riviera Country Club.

Here’s the line-up of golfing stars set to take to the course that was home to many of the greats of Hollywood.

Former Winners of The Genesis Invitational
James Hahn
J.B. Holmes
Dustin Johnson
Bubba Watson

Winner – THE PLAYERS Championship (Last 5 years)
Jason Day
Si Woo Kim
Rory McIlroy

Winner – U.S. Open (Last 5 Years)
Brooks Koepka
Jordan Spieth

Winner – PGA Championship (Last 5 Years)
Justin Thomas
Jimmy Walker

Winner – the Masters (Last 5 Years)
Sergio Garcia
Patrick Reed
Danny Willett
Tiger Woods

Winner – The Open Championship (Last 5 Years)
Francesco Molinari

Winner – TOUR Championship (2017 & 2018)
Xander Schauffele

Winner – World Golf Championships Event – FedEx St. Jude Invitational (3yr)
Hideki Matsuyama

Winner – World Golf Championships Event – Mexico (3yr)
Phil Mickelson

Winner – World Golf Championships Event – HSBC Champions – Last 3 Seasons
Justin Rose

Winner the Memorial (Last 3 Years)
Patrick Cantlay
Bryson DeChambeau
Jason Dufner

Winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational (Last 3 Years)
Marc Leishman

Winners – Tournament Winner in the Past Year
Paul Casey
Cameron Champ
Corey Conners
Tyler Duncan
Dylan Frittelli
Lanto Griffin
Jim Herman
Max Homa
Sung Kang
Andrew Landry
Nate Lashley
Collin Morikawa
Sebastián Muñoz
Kevin Na
Joaquin Niemann
Ryan Palmer
Cheng Tsung Pan
J.T. Poston
Jon Rahm
Chez Reavie
Cameron Smith
Brendon Todd
Martin Trainer
Matthew Wolff

Member of Last Named U.S. Ryder Cup Team
Tony Finau

Member of Last Named European Ryder Cup Team
Alex Noren

Member of Last Named U.S. Presidents Cup Team
Matt Kuchar

Member of Last Named International Presidents Cup Team
Abraham Ancer
Adam Hadwin
Sungjae Im
Adam Scott

Top 125 on Prior Year’s FedExCup Points List
Jason Kokrak
Charles Howell III
Kevin Tway
Andrew Putnam
Rory Sabbatini
Harold Varner III
Scott Piercy
Ryan Moore
Vaughn Taylor
Jim Furyk
Joel Dahmen
Troy Merritt
Wyndham Clark
Emiliano Grillo
Keegan Bradley
Adam Long
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Adam Schenk
Danny Lee
Jhonattan Vegas
Branden Grace
Charley Hoffman
Chesson Hadley
Brian Stuard
Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Matt Every
Russell Henley
Brian Harman
Michael Thompson
Matt Jones
Luke List
Roger Sloan
Sam Burns
Bud Cauley
Nick Watney
J.J. Spaun
Ryan Armour
Talor Gooch
Chris Stroud
Kyle Stanley
Brice Garnett
Patrick Rodgers
Cameron Tringale
Sam Ryder
Kyoung-Hoon Lee
Scott Stallings
Russell Knox
Denny McCarthy
Scott Brown
Carlos Ortiz
Aaron Wise
Sepp Straka
Aaron Baddeley
Peter Malnati
Brian Gay
Nick Taylor
Martin Laird
Pat Perez